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enThu, 22 Feb 2018 05:14:00 GMTvBulletin60http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/images/misc/rss.pngStanceWorks - Buildshttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/
What Have I Done? (W116 content)http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101573-What-Have-I-Done-(W116-content)&goto=newpost
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 04:18:07 GMTHello Everyone!
An old Mercedes Diesel has always been a dream car that i wanted to own at some point in my life however i dont have much money...Hello Everyone!

An old Mercedes Diesel has always been a dream car that i wanted to own at some point in my life however i dont have much money but have a lot of time and patience. i like buying things other people would consider junk and fixing them. probably costs more in the long run but at the end i know what i have.

a few days ago i picked up a W116 off craigslist for very very cheap. this is what i was greeted to.

it was apparently running when parked 4 years ago

got it loaded up and realized its almost the length of my F150.

and finally home

today i was finally able to play with it. hooked up cables to my GTD and tried to fire it. wasnt getting power to anything. i pulled the battery mount out to find the negative ground to the frame was badly rusted and wasnt making contact. wire brush+sand paper+new bolt and i had power to the dash. however there is still no start. i pulled the downpipe off the turbo to get top side access to the starter where i found i was able to jump the solenoid with a screwdriver. when i did the motor turned over very slowly. unfortunately my volt meter is dead so i couldnt test the signal wire to the solenoid to see if it was getting power so im not sure if its a bad solenoid or fault in the wiring. the slow turnover also has me concerned. need to check voltage to starter. if the voltage to the starter is good i will pull the starter then tear it apart to give it a good cleaning. really dont want to spend money on a starter.

and thats where im at as of now. going to be busy until sunday but if anyone has any ideas for me post them up!
]]>BuildsFlexYJeeperhttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101573-What-Have-I-Done-(W116-content)1992 BMW 520i E34http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101551-1992-BMW-520i-E34&goto=newpost
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 13:17:58 GMT1992 BMW 520i E34
Image: http://www.bildites.lv/images/hzn5nmzj/102811/original.jpg
Photo credit to Edvards facebook.com/edvardsj...

I was dreaming of buying a nice, classic BMW, stance it, swap a V8 and then I had many more 'BIG PLANS'. I was looking at E34's, as they look very classy, oldschool and the front end gave that 'shark' look, which I really liked. But I couldn't find one. Dad made a call, to a good family friend, who had owned this old 5 series classic. All we knew was that it SHOULD be in a good condition, that it's black and had white leather interior. He was asking for 2000 EUR for it. I said no, even without seeing the car. I did not have such money and I wanted to drive during the summer and not just keep it in the garage, while I earn some cash. Haha. A week later I received a call, the owner said I could get it for 1000 EUR which was completely unexpected. Like at all. I was so excited. So I went to his garage to take a look the car and it was better than I expected, except for the wheels of course(When you see them you'll know what I'm talking about). So I bought the car and was a very happy man.

So here are (and sadly, all of them) some crappy phone pictures, until I get camera. Sorry about that, you'll just have to live with it.

It actually wasn't the first time I saw this car, as it was a family friend's car and I remember seeing it when I was a kid and thinking "what a cool BMW".
The car had stood in the garage for the last 2 years, all covered in dust.

Looks like a good find huh?

I don't know why I did not make more pictures of the car, it would be nice to see them now.
Looks like I was too ashamed of wheels, haha.

I was looking for wheels for a while, at least R17, but since I had to drive around with these terrible ones, friend lent me BMW style 61 wheels.

Definitely better look, but still - it needs lowering.

Another friend let me try on his BBS RC090 R17, 8.5J, fell in love with them. They made car look even more classic.

BBS RS replica wheels. R17 and 10J.

I could go offroading with this car. Ugh.

Two weeks later friend sold me BBS's. Finally, some pictures with better quality.

MORE COMING SOON...

]]>BuildsRV97http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101551-1992-BMW-520i-E34achievement unlocked, B6 Dad Wagonhttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101549-achievement-unlocked-B6-Dad-Wagon&goto=newpost
Mon, 12 Feb 2018 22:45:00 GMTSo, i had a "fun" mk5 R32, that I sold the other day. Everyone told me I was stupid, and "IT'S SO COOL AND RARE WHY".

-They require too much money and work to make actually fast. (although stock its the fastest car I've owned)
-Their scarcity made me not want to do things to it, so i just sunk money into maintaining it. Rather than fun parts.
-It needed a lot of work to get back to a level I would be proud to show off. (New bumper, grill, all over spray and dent removal, a good bit of engine work and such.
-I never owned a mk5, and realize they aren't for me.

Moving on. This will be the 6th wagon I've owned.

2008 B6 Passat Wagon.
-2.0T
-100k Miles
-Automatic
-Fwd

I picked it up from Houston, the owner was a middle aged lady who had garage kept it the whole time she owned it. That plus the price point, it was a damn good deal.

Plans will be
- Bags
- Wheels
- Full exhaust
- K04 turbo upgrade with tune
- Some decent but not over the top audio upgrades.

I am going to put way more effort into having quality pictures on this one. They always start that way, and end up migrating to phone pics after a few months.

anyway, some pictures

]]>BuildsDwobhttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101549-achievement-unlocked-B6-Dad-WagonPeople still build E36s?http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101532-People-still-build-E36s&goto=newpost
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 23:59:45 GMTWow. Its been awhile since I've actually posted here. That being said maybe some of you remember my S10

Well if you do, and actually read anything on that thread then you know that the entire time I put that truck together I wanted an E36. After awhile I convinced myself to build a drift car and what better choice than an E36, right? Time to fill in about a years worth pictures, and 3 E36s later.

I picked up this 94 325is in April 2017 after realizing that the 98 M3 I owned was way too far gone to fix up and make something clean out of. I picked this up for $800 literally needing nothing, the car had no rust but was missing most of the interior. Brought it back home and started here.

I was able to use a lot of parts off the M3 I owned like glass headlights and a few other odds and ends. Also found a M3 bumper for $50 haggardly spray painted, but didn't take any pictures of it of course. At this point I was preparing for a drift event in June and basically had a month to get it put together. I had already been ordering a lot of parts on the side and had most of it ready to install.

Found a spare subframe with 3.91 diff locally for $100

Stripped it down of its bushings, arms, and diff

Prepped it up for paint with a wire wheel

Did the same to the upper control arms

Used a rust inhibitor to try and save the spots I wasn't able to get with the wire wheel

The knuckles you see were off the M3 I had and parted, they were cut and shortened to increase angle

Let the paint dry then scuffed them up to prime and paint them.

I chose silver honestly because I just prefer the clean look to it and feel it suited the car better some reason?

Condor bushings installed

Picked up some BC coilovers with 8k/12k rates

Teardown phase begins

Old subframe out

Picked up some OEM M3 subframe reinforcement plates and had a friend weld them in for me

Took the time to clean under the car and undercoat it

Before

After

Painted

Originally planned to install the M3's trailing arm and axle setup but due to time and budget constraints I kept the original setup.

Installed condor bushings

Started the installation of the subframe

Resealed the diff and painted the cover

Sealed

Diff in

More to come
]]>Buildsfackinstevehttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101532-People-still-build-E36sBMW E63 650ihttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101516-BMW-E63-650i&goto=newpost
Sat, 03 Feb 2018 15:41:39 GMTHey!
so another project of mine, after the E34 touring...Hey!

so another project of mine, after the E34 touring and E46 330d touring, after the E46 i bought an E63 650i, also bone stock, wanted to try the V8 power, and it was serving as a daily driver for around 2 years.. not that much happened to it, started out with this:

wish it was a manual and facelift model, but yeah, in my country i was happy to find even this example..

there were few issues though, right away few months after with my mechanic we did change the o-ring and water transfer pipe..

after that i had to change the oil in gearbox, in ZF service, even though it was written in service book, it was changed at 120 000km in bmw, guys in ZF told me that filter wasnt down, so..

i also detailed the car, with the interior of course..

then winter came..

swapped the AE bulbs..

then i sold the stock 19" and bought some new 20" wheels.. with nice specs, unfortunately not very good stance, because car was soooo high, it looked like offroad..
20x9.5 ET25, effective ET8 with spacers
20x11 ET25, effective ET0 with spacers

all around 245/35

one thing, i was dissapointed with, was the noise of the car though.. and then this came:

but it didnt help.. honestly, from outside, the car sounded nuts, it was really great, but from the inside, it is so well insulated, that you cant hear anything :-/ so exhaust valves will come in place, when their time comes :-D

after that, i bought eibach lowering springs kit, wasnt very happy with the hight, but hey.. it was a daily driver. this is the end of 2015 season. also, the aluminium trim on the car was wrapped in black gloss vinyl + the kidneys were plastidipped black..

then, for 2016, having in mind, that the car wasnt low enough, i decided to go with narrower rims, and wider tires, to put in more of a "fat" stance to it, so i bought set of new AvantGarde M359 wheels.. with these specs: 20x9 ET15 a 20x10.5 ET25
and wrapped with Federal SS595 Evo tires, 245/35 and 285/30 R20..
but the car looked a whole lot better:

like that, i went to worthersee too :-)

but then, the turning point came..

valve covers leaked oil, it went onto the alternator, that failed, so car didnt have power, etc. etc. it ended up like this again, for few weeks

while it was sitting there, i sent the headlight for refurbishment, got new projectors fitted in them and painted the inside black:

car was put together, nice feeling, everything great, did 3500km, after two weeks, steering failed. leaked oil, etc. so it ended up like this..

soo at this point, in summer 2016 i told myself, it cant be like this, i needed a reliable car to drive every day, i was putting 30 000+km per year on 10years old 650, it just wasnt going to last, solving something all the time.. i went on bmw test drive event, and felt in love with F32..
so 3 months later, in second half of november, we got a delivery :-D

brand fucking new, i was blown away, never thought i will order a new bmw in my life.
nice spec, adaptive led headlamps, big navigation, adaptive suspension, adaptive steering, hifi, full m sports package, paddle shifts.. unfortunately its only 420d, but there wasnt enough cash for 430d..:-/
i put on some stuff however, new rear diffuser, rear trunk lip and gloss black kidneys

did have a front splitter on it too, but it didnt last long unfortunately, will be putting on it something else..

back to E63 though..

i kept the car of course, after so much money spent on it.. but this is where it gets interesting, it turned into project car and weekend driver :-) and only at this point i really started to enjoy the car, driving it on weekends, giving it a go.. :-)

everything is fixed on it, and i took it to get the interior fixed too..
few before afters:

i ordered a trunk lip, which still isnt on the car, because i was waiting for some other stuff to have on, so it sits in the garage in the box for a year :-D

i put wider spacers on the wheels, 2.5cm on the back and 1.5cm on the front (instead of 1.5cm and 1cm) and it wasnt rubbing! much. :-D but i left them there, because i knew i will be putting narrower tires on.

also, new brake discs and pads all round..

tires..

with some nice stretch

new front grille, gloss black this time + DRL LED H7 bulbs..

and the biggest thing came after that..

the kit is D2 Racing Super professional, and its almost top of the line from D2, and i absolutely love it. never had an airride before, but now i know that i dont want anything else.. it drives super comfortable, you can go through anything, it just makes complete sense..
and parked low it just looks insane :-)

then i did some shots with my insane new lens, nikkor 80-200 F2.8, which is sharp as hell and makes sooo great shots, i am very happy with it..
here ya go..

new front tires, 245/35 out, and 235/35 in, for some little stretch:
and i gained a lot of space, which is nice:

driving height..

soo, the next step will be dialing in the fitment, i am waiting for front camber plates, because they were ordered but never delivered, so after the camber adjustment i will see how much more spacer i can put in, i guess 2.5cm will be fine.. and also i have to roll the rear fenders, because there is a huge lip, after that i will be putting wider spacers too.
in the works is also the interior, there will be some carbon trim, i already got a new gear knob, and the small stuff + steering wheel will be upholstered in alcantara. i also will be putting in some splitters and the trunk lip, and of course detailing the car, would love to try and wetsand it :-D
thats it folks, for now.. cant wait for 2018 season..
]]>Buildsfuxxohttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101516-BMW-E63-650iBMW E34 520i Touringhttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101515-BMW-E34-520i-Touring&goto=newpost
Sat, 03 Feb 2018 14:36:42 GMTHey guys,
decided to be a little bit active again :-D
so i guess few people might remember my E46 330d touring.. after i sold that, i bought a...Hey guys,

decided to be a little bit active again :-D
so i guess few people might remember my E46 330d touring.. after i sold that, i bought a daily 650i E63..
BUT, 1.5 years after that, i felt that something is missing, i didnt have any stanced car, and needed something real bad and the best would be some youngtimer. and because i am a sucker for tourings, i got found a great example, so i went and bought it for my 30th birthday :-D
it had to be a petrol, so it was a bone stock 1994 E34 touring, with straight 6 petrol and manual gearbox, and driving takes you back to those days.. almost no equipment, grey cloth interior, but the car looked (and still looks) like new..it looked like this, when i bought it:

first season (2016) i made some changes, bought amber lights, put in new exhaust muffler for some noise, and also, wanted something special for wheels.. i knew i wanted to run 18", so i found very rare 18" steelies with 5x120 (guess what they come from), and got them widened to some crazy widths..
and also some narrow tires for great stretch :-D
specs: 18x9.5" 205/40 + 18x11.3" 225/40

and this is how it came out..

put in the amber side markers and some black vinyl on headlights..

i also managed to source the heckblende from sedan and fitted it with double sided tape, but it wasnt right unfortunately :-( didnt last there too long, but it looked insanely good

after that, there was time finally for some detailing.. did polish the whole car etc.. and meanwhile, police officers took my pinkslip, because of the wheels so i had to legalize them :-D

and finally, for 2016 season, i dialed in the fitment, put in wider spacers on front, cut the bumpstops down, so it was sitting lower by 2cm..and added some graphics, coz i felt it was a bit boring :-D

for 2017 there were few other changes, i wanted to make the car more driveable, on 18" it was really horrid ride :-D so i sourced some awesome Remotec wheels, with 16x9" ET9 squared setup.. bought som 195/60 tires, to have at least little bit of stretch, threw the wheels on, with spacers, removed the graphics, and vuala :-D
village hopper is born :-)

i also bought myself a new phenomenal lens for my camera, so i was out testing it..

sooo, this is how its sits now.. dont know if there will be some progress, might put on some 17" wheels, who knows.. i would love to possibly trade it for something older, but the car is so great, it doesnt need service, runs great, got almost no rust anywhere.. it would be hard to trade it for something else :-D
]]>Buildsfuxxohttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101515-BMW-E34-520i-Touringhttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101513-BMW-e34-93&goto=newpost
Fri, 02 Feb 2018 19:50:25 GMTHello ! My name is Bob i live in France, and i have a bmw e34 525tds of 1993
This is my daily
Buy there is 10 month, full stock, very good...Hello ! My name is Bob i live in France, and i have a bmw e34 525tds of 1993
This is my daily

Buy there is 10 month, full stock, very good condition for 280 000 kilomŤtres ( 173 983 miles ) complicated to find less kilometer in france haha

Day buy

change fender because push right, new fender fiber +30mm

welding coilovers ( D2 racing street version )

finished fitting

Next time, wheels painting

mounting

here it is now ! now go down in front

Then, side markers and licence plate m5 usa !

thank you and excuse me for my english bad, not strong at school in english haha
]]>BuildsSBobyhttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101513-BMW-e34-93Fixing an Old Friend: A 1989 BMW 325ishttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101496-Fixing-an-Old-Friend-A-1989-BMW-325is&goto=newpost
Tue, 30 Jan 2018 20:18:45 GMT

Introduction

I'm not great at maintaining build threads, but I love the idea of them. That's not the best way to start off this thread, but I thought I'd be up front. Now, welcome to my E30 build! This is my money pit, my shitbox, and my old friend, an $800 1989 325is. I bought this a long time ago, daily drove it through college, broke the oil pan, sold it to finish my E36, regretted that decision immensely because I **** E36s, and bought it back. Iíve been through a lot with this car, and always had ďbig plansĒ for it. But they always fell short. This was 100% because I was broke and in college. 100%.

How it sat when I bought it back from my friend. He lives in CO, but stored it back here in AZ in a field.

Itís been through a number of wheel and suspension setups, but the car has always looked like garbage. Like, even for an $800 car. When I bought it back, I made the decision to give this car the love it deserves. Anyone else would have (rightfully) either turned it into a gutted track car, or used it for parts. But my weakness for this 80s shitbox won out, and I'm rebuilding the car how I had pictured when I first got it.

Even after sitting for months, it started right up and I drove it home.

The plan is pretty straight forward, this car isn't going to break the mould. In fact, there really wonít be anything remarkable about this E30 at all. This is textbook E30 starter kit: 24v swap, BBS RSs, a healthy drop, and fresh paint. But Iím alright with that, this car isnít about trying to break the internet. I just want to create a driving experience that puts a smile on my face, and a car that Iím proud to keep around.

So this is where we start. Note that every single body panel has a dent of some sort, the paint is flaking due to a bad respray in the 90s, and a lot of the ďisĒ has been removed from this 325is. It used to be on CAtuned coilovers, and now sits on some janky H&R and Koniís I got out of a bad trade. In short, everything needs redoing. You'll also notice the places I'm working at change, as I tend to just work where I can. A bulk of this build will be done in a driveway...

Back home. The garage is being used for storage, so I'll be rebuilding in my driveway.

There isnít a timeline or a specific goal here. I donít daily drive this car, so Iím never in a rush to get jobs done. Iíll just go with the flow and hope for the best.

Wheels

I started where anyone would: the wheels. It had always been a dream of mine to put the car on a set of RSs, but I never really had RS money. In fact I barely had XXR or Salad Shooter money. In a stroke of luck, I found a set of BBS RSs locally for a good deal. I scooped them up, but sat on them for a long time. I think I may have tried to sell them a few times, if Iím being honest. Eventually I was talked into building them, something that turned out to be very worthwhile.

How they sat when I got them.

Yikes.

Test fit these on my friend's E30. Weak specs.

They were worse for wear, someone poorly spray painted the faces, the lips had some nasty rash and they lacked any sort of real offset. I blew the set apart and sent the faces off to get powder coated at Element Powder here in Phoenix. Initially I really wanted to go with Rose Gold for the faces, however there were some concerns about the powder laying down clean on a RS face. I made the decision to go with a simpler ďBMW SilverĒ. This will play well into future plans with body and paint.

BMW Silver, properly powdered.

Before and after. It is worth noting these were redrilled at some point. Such is life.

I also wasnít happy with the spec - a rather boring 15x7 et25. I went back and forth on stepping these wheels up to a 16, but ultimately I wanted to go for a more period correct look. Again I lucked out, and sourced a set of 2Ē lips on the VWVortex forums. They were oxidized and peeling, but otherwise in good shape, so I had them polished locally. For those keeping track at home, the new spec is 15x8 et12.6. Not groundbreaking, but certainly a little more respectable.

Old lips, new lips.

Test fit, much better. This is before polishing.

Another look after I had the lips polished.

I also ordered new hardware from Black Forest Industries. I made the mistake of ordering chrome plated bolts instead of stainless steel. I should have spent the extra, during assembly some dirt made its way into the socket and I cracked the finish on a few of the bolts. From a learning perspective it was a good experience, but I know Iíll be going back and redoing these wheels someday. For anyone wondering, I sealed them with a GE Aluminum Sealant. No leaks, so Iím happy with it. Everything was wrapped up with some shiny new valve stems, and SpinFab hex caps.

Final assembly.

Hard to believe this is the same wheel.

When it came time to get tires, I flipped and flopped for a very long time. I will admit that I may have lost some sleep over figuring out what would work best for me. I knew I wanted a meaty, period correct tire and didnít want to run a terribly undersized diameter. This left me with only a 225/50r15 as an option. This limited my tire options to the Kumhos I bought, and street legal race tires.

Ultimately I opted for the Kumhos for a few reasons. While Iím not totally happy with the way the tread looks or the way Iíve seen them perform, there are a few advantages. Keep in mind I want to drive this car a lot, and part of that means being ready for rain. While it was tempting to get a R888, their performance in the wet leaves a lot to be desired. These will also last a while, so I wonít have to stress putting a lot of miles on the car with them. It sucks that the weak point of my car is going to be the tires, but unfortunately that is the trade off for running this size for now.

That should do nicely.

Then came the test fit. No need for detail pictures, the long and short of it is nothing fits on the current suspension setup. The rear needs a smidge more camber, and to be lifted just a hair to clear the fender. But thatís fine, coilovers are coming. Iím glad I stuck to my guns and ran a 15 with a fat tire. I love the way it looks, and I think will match the character of the car perfectly when everything is done.

Oh my...

Period Correct.

Again, I can't believe these are the same wheels.

Engine

So here's the last bit of intro before we start getting into the car itself. The engine has been something that I couldn't quite settle on. My original plan for this car was to build a turbo M20. After pricing everything out, and looking at my goals for the car, it wasnít worth the effort involved. A 24v swap made much more sense.

I started off with this, a M50nv. I picked it up off a guy who was t-boned and needed to part the car out. It was cheap, and the lack of Vanos was nice from a reliability standpoint. One less thing to go wrong. I pulled the head to get it cleaned up, got some ARP head studs and was about ready to put in a MLS head gasket. I sent the head off to get a valve job and be decked, and continued cleaning up the bottom end. However as I continued to sink my time into this, I realized that I would eventually become bored of the M50.

Safety third kids.

I got to this point, sent the head out to be decked and get a valve job, then changed my mind. Oops.

Enter 24v number two. I found a healthy S52 locally, and decided to pick that up. The idea is, Iíll throw a few new gaskets at it, and plop it in as is. This will put the chassis at a sweet spot for power right away, and give me loads more potential down the line. The M50 has been neatly torn down and packed away, itíll come back as a 3.0 stroker someday. I'm also able to rob a few parts from it, such as the M50 intake, fuel rail, oil pickup, and oil pan.

Here it is in all of it's oily glory.

The plan is pretty straight forward. I will drop the S52 in with the stock G260. I suspect I'll eventually move up to a 6 speed, but for now the G260's 5th gear offers a more comfortable cruising RPM over the ZF. It will stay OBD2, there seems to be very little reason to OBD1 swap M/S52s anymore. So my next focus will be prepping the chassis.

Now I have wheels and an engine to build the car around. I know what needs to be done, and I can start focusing on the chassis. I have actually started turning wrenches on the car, I'm just behind on uploading photos. You can see some of the progress here (@benzintinte) as I go along.
]]>Buildsbwwaaaahttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101496-Fixing-an-Old-Friend-A-1989-BMW-325isThe Pearl Chronicles (aka White Lightning)http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101493-The-Pearl-Chronicles-(aka-White-Lightning)&goto=newpost
Mon, 29 Jan 2018 23:52:06 GMT

White Lightning

How's it going StanceWorks! My name is Michael, I am 17 years old and I was lucky enough to pick up my very first BMW e30 a few weeks ago. I've been really excited to start this thread and I hope I don't disappoint! Anyways, Let's get into it.

So let me get all of the boring stuff out of the way like a little introduction and why I bought the car and stuff (If you don't want to read this, please feel free to skip to all the car stuff. Don't worry, I won't **** you for it ;)).

I've been in love with BMWs ever since I first got into cars which tbh was only like 3 years ago haha. I've been lucky enough to daily a 2001 740il these past few months, but I've always been on the lookout for an e30 as it's probably my favorite looking car ever. 3 weeks ago, after a 3 year search... sort of, I was finally able to purchase one. The car is a 1987 BMW 325e sedan (ugh eta... I know :shifty). I really made an effort to get a normal i model, but this one was an original owner car so I really couldn't pass it up. The owner lived about two hours away, so on a Saturday morning I made the drive up North with my Brother and Dad.

Nothing really eventful happened, we went up, checked it out, bought it and drove back home. The owners were an older couple and some of the nicest people I've ever met. I ended up finding out it was actually the girlfriends car that she couldn't drive anymore due to her knees going out on her :(. She had named it Pearl, so I just decided to keep the name and add my own little flare to it (hence the White Lightning part) They had done nothing to the car other than maintenance. It is literally bone-stock, how it came from the factor other than the shocks which he replaced cause he felt the ride was a little too rough. That's about it for boring stuff, let's get into the pictures!

Gotta love those diving boards :rolleyes

The paint needs some work, but for being the original paint from the factory it looks pretty darn good.

There is nearly no rust anywhere so that's sweet.

Dashboard cover cause it's obviously cracked lol

Odometer still works so that is the real mileage according to the PO. Fuel gauge doesn't work so that needs to be fixed.

And for my favorite part about this car...Houndstooth Interior baby! Pure sex :rofl

Sorry for the shitty phone pictures, from now on I'll be shooting on a pretty decent camera. I am by no means a photographer, but real camera pictures are definitely gonna look better than phone pics.

I've pretty much done nothing to the car other than wash it and de-badge it. I bought new emblems, but they didn't fit so I gotta either return them or do something to make them fit in the little grommets. I also bought a bunch of little maintenance parts to make sure it runs in tip-top shape.

Before stripping her of her identity haha

This stuff took forever to come off... maybe I could've done it a better way... oh well

The 3 broke off, I guess it doesn't matter since it won't be on the car anymore

This stuff wasn't coming off. it kinda just looks like scratching from the emblem so I guess I gotta do some paint correction. No biggie, I planned on doing that anyway

I probably forgot a few things, but you get the gist of it. Maintenance is boring, but its gotta be done

I am by no means mechanically inclined so don't bash me if I do shit the wrong way lol, I plan on learning a lot with this car and pretty much doing every thing it needs. I really don't wanna pay for labor at a shop.

Planning to do all the maintenance stuff the following weekend since I won't be home this weekend. Took her to get gas today and she kinda left me stranded. All of a sudden she started idling really weird and the exhaust literally sounded like a motorcycle so I guess it's the exhaust. I could only drive in 1st gear cause she wasn't going fast enough to shift into 2nd. I literally had to drive home at like 5mph lol. Anyone have any ideas what it could be?

As for the future of Pearl... I'm probably gonna be super basic and do an m50 (maybe s52?) turbo swap. I was also thinking American v8 like a 5.0 motor from the foxbodies or an ls1. I think it goes without saying that I will lower her and get some new wheels and of course tuck the god awful diving board (I really don't mind the old model bumpers they just look so weird due to how far out they are). I'll probably daily her for a bit as I'm trying to get rid of the e38 pretty soon and get something newer to daily while I make the White Lightning nickname actually make sense :eyebrows I don't plan on going super low, I want her to be fun to drive and not scrape on every little incline I run into.

That's pretty much all for now guys, hope you enjoyed the intro and if you have any questions or tips please let me know! Oh! and if you wanna follow me on instagram or twitter they're both in my signature
]]>BuildsHardyNuggethttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101493-The-Pearl-Chronicles-(aka-White-Lightning)1976 Beetle: I Wish I Could Quit Youhttp://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?101481-1976-Beetle-I-Wish-I-Could-Quit-You&goto=newpost
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 18:47:34 GMT*EDIT: Hopefully these photos links work, changed one of the photos as well..*
Sometimes a specific type of car can haunt you. You make the...*EDIT: Hopefully these photos links work, changed one of the photos as well..*

Sometimes a specific type of car can haunt you. You make the decision that you’ve had enough but you keep going back to them, like Ike and Tina Turner or Pringles. This is one of my projects, a 1976 Standard Beetle

This car was a purchased in California and brought into Pennsylvania at some point in its life and was part of a small rally race and a 1st and 2nd place winner in the 80s. In the 90s it was purchased by its 2nd owner and then sat for years in Central PA until I bought it.

Unfortunately, I don’t have many photos of the actual build but with the help of my local air-cool shop I was able to:

Fix the wiring

Cleaned out the interior

Battery tray was replaced

Installed Valley Autowerks’ 4” narrowed beam

Drop spindles installed

Disc Brake conversion on the front

After having some summer fun with the car [driving it in this form out to Michigan for Motorstadt 13, and then a 900-mile road trip throughout the northeast and new england], I decided to sell it. While looking through craigslist about 5 months later, I saw that the new owner was trying to flip it. So I bought the car back and this is where we currently stand.

Major goals are to get it up and running again, as it has been sitting since I sold it and I have been trying to decide what direction I want to take this. Lately, the rally-inspired bug [no pun intended] bit me and I thought it would be cool to clean up the car and go for that sort of theme. Just hard to decide if i want to get rid of the super 80s patina: